Gusto Stories 1978

One of Buffalo’s landmark music clubs in its twilight days. Feb. 2, 1979 Gusto nightlife story The Bona Vista           “Back in those days, I used to hang out at the Bona Vista almost every night,” the caller remarks. For this former Buffalonian, a singer who’s gone on to work in the record business in New York City, the little club on Hertel Avenue just west of Parkside was the center of the local musical universe. “Tell me,” the voice on the phone says, “is it still like it used to be?”           Throughout the ‘70s, the Bona Vista has been home base for some of Buffalo’s most inventive bands. It was one bar that didn’t succumb to the shift to big sound systems and disco deejays. Instead, it inherited the musical legend that used to surround Aliotta’s down the street. The Bona came to support a raft of white blues-rockers, a subculture that began seeing its fortunes sink with the fall of...

  A band that occupies a prominent parking place in Little Steven’s Underground Garage. Feb. 9, 1979  The Ramones at Harvey and Corky’s Stage One          The Ramones, as usual, look like cartoon characters Thursday night in Harvey and Corky’s Stage One as they face another sold-out club date in what looks like a triumphant tour of the rock showcases of the nation.          Joey Ramone, the scarecrow-like singer, wears a T-shirt from Toronto’s El Mocambo, where the group just sold out two nights and could have gone for a third. Here they simply could use a bigger place to play.          The tickets were all gone two days in advance, making this the strongest attraction to play Stage One so far. The scene is strictly wall-to-wall punk-rockers, colorful as a carnival midway and all jammed in so tightly there’s no room to slither down to the floor to d...